Mentions, Usernames & Search

Kira 5.9 lets you tag people. Type @ in a post or a comment, pick a name, and they get notified.

To make that work, every account now has a username: a short handle like @hannah.k that is yours alone. It is what people type to mention you, and it now shows first on your profile, your posts and your comments.

You also decide who can mention you, and search got quicker, with recent searches and results you can find by username.

Mention People in Posts and Comments

Tagging someone works the same way everywhere: type @ or tap the @ key, pick a name from the suggestions, and their username turns yellow in your text.

• Mention in a post: while writing a caption, tap the @ key next to the # key, or just type @. A list of people appears, and it narrows as you type. You can mention up to 20 people in one post.

• Mention in a comment: the same @ key sits next to the image key in the comment box. Suggestions start with the post's author and the people already in the thread. You can mention up to 5 people in one comment or reply.

• Tap a name: a mention is a link. Tap any yellow @username in a caption or a comment to open that person's profile.
• Get notified: when someone mentions you, it shows up in your notifications, and you can tap through to the post or the comment.
• Not for you? Remove it: if you would rather not be tagged in a particular post or comment, open its menu and choose Remove my mention. Your name goes back to plain text and the notification disappears.

Your Username

Mentions need a name that cannot be confused with anyone else's, so every account now has a username.

• Already on Kira? We have set one up for you. Change it any time in Settings › Edit profile. Your first change is free; after that you can change it once every 30 days.
• New to Kira? You pick your username when you sign up, together with your name and bio.
• The rules: 3 to 30 characters, using lowercase letters, numbers, underscores and periods. It cannot start or end with a period or have two periods in a row.
• Username first: your profile now shows your username large, with your name underneath. Posts, comments and notifications use the username too, so the name people see is the name they can type.

You Decide Who Can Mention You

Being tagged should always be welcome, so the controls are yours. Open Settings › Notifications › Mentions.

• Mention permission: who can mention you at all. Choose From everyone, From profiles I follow, or Off.
• Mention notifications: whose mentions notify you. The same three choices, so you can let everyone mention you but only hear about it from people you follow.
• Blocked means blocked: people you have blocked, and people who have blocked you, cannot mention you.

A Quicker Search

Search is where most mentions start, so it learned a few things.

• Recent searches: tap into the search field and your last ten searches are right there: words you looked up, people you opened and hashtags you visited. Remove one or clear them all.
• Find people by username: people in search results show their username first, with the matching part highlighted, and their name underneath.
• Hashtags with post counts: hashtag results and the # suggestions in the post composer now show how many posts each topic has, so you can see which conversations are busy.
• Picks up where you left off: search remembers whether you were looking at Posts, Users or Hashtags and opens there next time.

Also in This Release

• A fuller post menu on web: hover a post in the viewer and a ⋯ button appears with Copy link, Download, Dislike, Report and Block. On your own posts it holds Copy link, Download and Delete.
• Report impersonation: when you report a profile, you can now choose Pretending to be someone else.
• A new loading animation: lists, uploads and the post viewer now load behind Kira's spirograph.

How It Works

1. Writing a post or a comment, type @ or tap the @ key.
2. Keep typing to narrow the list, then select a person. Their username turns yellow.
3. Post or send as usual. They get a notification, and anyone can tap the username to visit their profile.
4. To choose your own username, go to Settings › Edit profile. To choose who can mention you, go to Settings › Notifications › Mentions.

Why This Matters

Comments and follows gave Kira a conversation. Mentions give it a way to address someone directly: thank the creator whose look you remixed, pull a friend into a thread, or credit a collaborator in the caption itself.

Usernames make that reliable. A display name can be anything, and two people can share one. A username is unique, so the person you tag is the person you meant, and the name on screen is the name you can type.

And because you choose who can mention you and whose mentions reach you, being part of the conversation never has to mean being pulled into every one.

As always, your feedback helps shape what comes next.